Cameras and other image capture devices are commonly used to capture images of a subject area for security, monitoring, or other purposes. These images are typically stored for later access, processed to extract information, streamed to a remote user for viewing, or some combination thereof.
A given subject area may not be uniform in its lighting or in other photographic characteristics. As a result, a common problem is that some portions of an image of the subject area may not be fully exposed, may be overexposed, may appear blurry (for example, if the subject is in motion), or may otherwise be unsuitable for viewing. Furthermore, images optimized for one purpose may be non-optimal for other purposes.
Further, a viewers' interest may be limited to only a subset of the subject area, or perhaps to several discrete regions within the field of view of an image.
Issues with exposure can sometimes be addressed using high dynamic range (HDR) photography. HDR photography is done by combining multiple images that are identical, other than a variation in exposure between them. These images are combined into a format which can represent a wider range of exposure than is represented in any one of the original images.
There remains a need for image capture apparatus, systems and methods that ameliorate at least some of the shortcomings of the above-described devices and techniques.